Wendy Cervantes is the Director of the Immigration and Immigrant Families team. In this role, she oversees CLASP’s cross-team research and advocacy work to develop and promote federal and state policies that support immigrant families with low incomes. She is the director and co-founder of the Children Thrive Action Network, a co-founder and steering committee member of the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition, and serves as an advisor on several other immigrant’s and children’s rights campaigns. She has authored numerous reports on the impact of U.S. immigration policies on child well-being and is an expert on the cross-sector policy issues that impact immigrant children and families, including economic security, child welfare, early childhood programs, education, and access to health care and public benefits programs.

Prior to joining CLASP, Ms. Cervantes was Vice President of Immigration and Child Rights at First Focus on Children, where she led a comprehensive federal advocacy agenda on immigration and children’s issues. She also served as Director of Programs at La Plaza, a Latino community-based organization in central Indiana, where she oversaw the implementation and evaluation of education, health, and social service programs. Earlier in her career, Ms. Cervantes worked at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where she managed the national immigrant and refugee families and the District of Columbia portfolios. She also has experience as a community organizer and an adult ESL instructor.

The proud daughter of Mexican immigrants, and the mother of two daughters, Ms. Cervantes holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies and Political Science from the University of New Mexico and a B.A. in Communications from the University of Southern California.